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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23380792">The Elsewhere Archives</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher'>Haberdasher</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elsewhere University (Webcomic), The Magnus Archives (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Changelings, Crossover, Crossovers &amp; Fandom Fusions, Fae &amp; Fairies, Fae Magic, Gen, Roommates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:41:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23380792</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Characters from The Magnus Archives plopped into the universe of Elsewhere University.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Elsewhere Archives</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Brain didn’t put all that much thought into his safename, really, but it was a fitting enough choice. He’d always been the cerebral sort, always valued mind over matter, and the name Brain made that personality trait clear the moment he introduced himself. He could have gone with something else, something more obscure and intellectual in origin, but just this once, he didn’t bother overthinking things.</p><p>Perhaps he would have chosen differently had he known housing would pair him with a roommate who had chosen the name Pinky.</p><p>Pinky picked that name because he blushed at the drop of a hat, a tendency that toed the line between endearing and annoying in Brain’s mind. It wasn’t something Pinky was proud of, exactly, but apparently that was part of why he’d chosen the name, purposely picking something a bit awkward so he wouldn’t get too attached to it. Also he liked the connection to pinky swears, which seemed a bit juvenile to Brain, but then, so was students using false names within higher education, so...</p><p>Yes, there were Pinky and the Brain jokes made about the two of them. <em>So many</em> Pinky and the Brain jokes. The theme song getting sung to them, the same few references made over and over again... It was to the point that Brain seriously considered changing his safename because of it, but decided against it because he still liked the name, and this unfortunate coincidence wasn’t his fault, exactly, so why should he be the one to change because of it?</p><p>It might have helped if the two of them hadn’t hung out so much, but much as Brain would have liked to avoid the constant Pinky and the Brain references, and much as he found parts of Pinky’s personality infuriating (Pinky wrote <em>poetry</em>, of all things, mediocre flowery poetry clearly influenced by whichever author he was currently dealing with in his literature courses, and he protested whenever Brain pulled all-nighters no matter what measures he implemented to make sure Pinky wouldn’t be affected by his staying up, and he’d brought so many teabags with him that the room always reeked of the stuff), Brain didn’t know anyone else, and being roommates does mean a fair bit of the personal contact that he often found so difficult to initiate otherwise. His ex had, thankfully, matriculated elsewhere, so Brain was on a campus filled with strangers, and while Pinky was irritating at times, he was at least a familiar face.</p><p>Plus, Pinky helped Brain connect some of those strange, childish-seeming campus traditions to a bigger truth. Pinky’s mother was Irish and had taught him a fair bit of Celtic folklore (one of the only tidbits about his mother he could consistently share without either trailing off into silence or threatening to burst into tears), and he saw the “traditions” for what they were--protection, rules to follow to avoid being preyed upon by something not human, something Other.</p><p>Pinky was a bit daunted by the idea that the creatures of childhood folklore were real and present on this very campus, but Brain... Brain was <em>fascinated</em>.</p><p>The two of them managed to befriend two others who joined their little circle and shared their growing knowledge of the inhuman residents of Elsewhere University. Muse was a girl with long, wild hair and an equally wild and free imagination who Pinky sat next to in one of his classes, the two sharing notes and being study buddies and becoming fast friends in the process. Loverboy... went by that name for a month and a half before the rest of them begged and pleaded and cajoled him into changing it to Flame, and even then he made jokes about being “your old Flame,” but at least that name wasn’t nearly as embarrassing to shout from afar. Brain wasn’t entirely sure <em>how</em> Loverboy-turned-Flame had become part of their group, exactly, except that he’d started joining them when they gathered and wouldn’t take no for an answer, and he had enough information and connections (he <em>might</em> have been seducing upperclassmen to gain more knowledge of the Fair Folk) that he was worth keeping around anyhow.</p><p>What they ended up forming could have been called a secret society, but it didn’t have the trapping of one. There were no explicit rules, no positions of authority--it didn’t even have a <em>name</em> (okay, so Pinky had suggested they be called the Watchdogs once, but they hadn’t actually done anything with the idea). But they gathered regularly in a far corner of the campus, in a room with no windows (originally because Pinky would run off every time he spotted a dog walking by to see if he could go pet it), to pool their knowledge of the supernatural, share any recent findings and plan anything that needed planning.</p><p>It started as the four of them, but membership fluctuated over time. Kazoo, a fellow freshman, joined late in fall term after she and Brain developed a love-hate relationship when forcibly paired up for a group project; Owl and Diana, the only upperclassmen of the bunch, joined in the spring, Owl stating as explanation that “if you’re going to be messing with this stuff, you’d better have people who actually know what they’re doing helping you along the way.”</p><p>They lost members along the way, too. Muse got replaced by a dedicated and enthusiastic changeling, her true self’s fate unknown; Flame stalked into the Elsewhere with a pipe bomb filled with iron nails and salt packets, and he never returned.</p><p>And all of them made deals along the way, deals for knowledge, deals for power, deals that came with strings attached, deals whose true cost was only revealed when it was too late...</p><p>It all grew rather complicated as months turned to years, but then, that is the way of life in Elsewhere University, especially for those who Know too much.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you liked this, consider following me on tumblr at <a href="https://haberdashing.tumblr.com/">haberdashing</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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